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Chatting up Margaret Cho…

It was like some kind of red carpet dream. Margaret Cho, looking as lovely as ever, emerged from this massive crush of people in front of the Orpheum Theatre in downtown L.A. Thursday night and was led right to me by a publcist.

Margaret was there to open Outfest 2008 but spent some time chatting with me about her new series “The Cho Show” which debuts on Aug. 21 on VH1. It’s her first weekly series since her 1994-95 ABC sitcom “All American Girl” which was a nightmare for the comedienne because network pressure for her to lose weight and for the show to be less edgy.

She turned that negative experience into a hugely successful concert film “I’m the One That I Want” which resulted in a series of follow-up concerts and DVDs that has continued unabated.

“It’s must fun being myself,” she said. “”Everything really changed after I started doing more independent stuff and becoming more independent and I’m really happy to be returning to television with the show.”

On “The Cho Show,” Margaret is calling the shots.

“It’s our real sitcom, it’s the first really real Asian-American sticom,” she said. “We had it with “All American Girl” and now we have the real version it, something I created and I’m a producer on. It’s sort of like a reality show but it’s kind of like a hybrid. It’s really very scripted. It’s a very new kind of genre and I’m very excited about it.”

A highlight should be the appearances by Margaret’s parents. Her hilarious imitation of her mother has always been one of the funniest parts of her act. She did a little bit of her mother for me on the red carpet and had me in stitches.

So what can people expect from the show? “They can expect a lot of outrageousness, a lot of fun, a lot of tom-foolery, a lot of hijinks. My mom is on the show and my dad. My family, my gay friends – a lot of gay in it, a lot of Asian. It’s very gaysian.”

Margaret clearly seemed happy to be at Outfest and said: “I love this. I think Outfest is much more special this year because we have marriage equality in California and that is really incredible. I have presided over two (weddings). I actually am now deputized by the state of California to perform weddings so I am at your service.”

Here is the first 10 minutes of Margaret’s great “I’m The One That I Want” concert film: